Money Still Flowing to Sequencing Startups

August 25, 2009

Money Still Flowing to Sequencing Startups

Two sequencing companies have raised millions.

Complete Genomics, a Silicon Valley-based startup that promises supercheap
sequencing, announced Monday that it had raised $45 million in its
latest round of venture funding. The announcement follows a similar one from Pacific Biosciences, another Silicon Valley
startup, which recently raised an additional $68 million.

Both companies have made big claims about their novel sequencing
technologies, with Complete Genomics promising a $5,000 sequencing service this
year. Pacific Biosciences predicted last year that its technology would be able
to sequence a human genome in 15 minutes by 2013. In addition, Illumina, a
genomics technology company headquartered in San Diego, announced
the launch of a $48,000 genome-sequencing service in June. That doesn’t include
analysis of the sequence, which will likely prove more expensive than the
sequencing itself.

“This new capital will enable us to scale up our facilities in
preparation for large customer projects. We now plan to launch our large-scale
commercial sequencing center in January 2010 with the goal of sequencing 10,000
human genomes next year,” said Clifford Reid, chairman, president and CEO
of Complete Genomics, in a statement. The company has adjusted its target
sequencing capacity–when I spoke to Reid last
fall, the company had a goal of sequencing 20,000 genomes in 2010.

[Complete Genomics] is already working with the Broad Institute of MIT and
Harvard on two pilot studies of the cancers melanoma and glioblastoma, and
another a project with the Institute for Systems Biology. Reid said the company
anticipates several other projects to be announced in the coming months.

Complete Genomics has raised a little more than $90
million since it was founded in 2006. Pacific Biosciences, founded in 2004, has
raised a total of $188 million since last summer.
For more on the two companies technologies, check out Five Thousand Bucks
for Your Genome and DNA in Real Time.